Toxic Chemicals Endanger Brain Development

By Ariba Khaliq
, Onlymyhealth editorial team

Feb 15, 2014

543214.8 / 5(4 Ratings)

What if we told you that your next generation's brains are at double the danger than you are at? Shocked? Well, it's true. Researchers have found that the number of chemicals known to be toxic to children's developing brains has doubled over the last seven years.

The news is so troubling for the researchers that they are calling for a worldwide overhaul of the regulatory process in order to protect children's brains.

"We know from clinical information on poisoned adult patients that these chemicals can enter the brain through the blood brain barrier and cause neurological symptoms," said Dr. Philip Landrigan at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York and Dr. Philippe Grandjean from Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, authors of the review.

"When this happens in children or during pregnancy, those chemicals are extremely toxic, because we now know that the developing brain is a uniquely vulnerable organ. Also, the effects are permanent," Grandjean added.

The two have been studying industrial chemicals for about 30 years. In 2006, they published data identifying five chemicals as neurotoxicants -- substances that impact brain development and can cause a number of neurodevelopmental disabilities including attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism, dyslexia and other cognitive damage, they said.

Those five are lead, methylmercury, arsenic, polychlorinated biphenyls, or PCBs, and toluene.

The review was published on February 14 in The Lancet Neurology journal.

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